Letters archive

You review a new book on weight loss drugs that are taking off. Could these hold more promise than just reducing waistlines, one related to the link between food production and its impact on our planet? While many hope the drugs will make them slim, one side-effect could be that sales of fast food, highly …

In coverage of the direct air capture industry, you mention a plant being built to remove half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere. This apparently impressive figure needs context ( 25 May, p 12 ). In my youth, the colliery in my village was producing a million tonnes of coal …

It isn't surprising that there has been criticism of the idea that humans evolved to chase down prey over large distances. The need to do this regularly would suggest an inability to hunt strategically or co-operate with others, which is somewhat insulting to the developing human intelligence ( 18 May, p 11 ). Sensible strategies …

How feasible are Dyson spheres, signs of which may have cropped up in a survey of 5 million stars in our galaxy? The basic engineering logic behind these proposed alien structures that encircle a star to capture all its energy isn't obvious ( 18 May, p 12 ). It makes sense that you would start …

The ridiculous idea of a Dyson sphere is truly a waste of space. Any industrial beings even 500 years in advance of us would have solved any energy needs without resorting to this silly and clumsy idea. Even our own struggles to develop fusion power in order to boil water to make steam to drive …

In my attempts to reduce my use of single-use plastics (refilling washing-up liquid bottles, using shampoo bars, toothpaste tablets and so on), I bought paper bags and greaseproof paper bags for packed lunches instead ( 11 May, p 36 ). Having just read your article on "forever chemicals", I am now wondering if I have …

Your reader Lawrence Ryan is worried that the concept that our reality is a simulation is lacking in parsimony and asks: "How much information would be required to simulate the lives, and inner lives, of more than 8 billion people?" But the simulation doesn't need to do any such thing. It only needs to simulate …

Thank you for your look at the ageing mindset. Although, at least according to this, I am already at the age when people start to acknowledge that they are old, I certainly don't feel that way ( 18 May, p 32 ). Maybe that is due in part to having a wide circle of friends, …

Your article reminds us not to stereotype all older people as frail, lonely or incapable. Ageism is one of many forms of labelling. Any group is in danger of that. It can serve a purpose by making us alert to specific needs, like offering an older person a seat on public transport. But when meeting …